JAMMU, June 24: Interlocutor used to defend Article 35A: The party, which claimed day and night that it inherited the legacy of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, was supposed to remove from the constitution not just Article 370, but also Article 35-A. It was a must given the fact that that it had made unjust, invidious and humiliating distinctions between the male and female residents of J&K but also deprived the Hindu-Sikh refugees from Pakistan of their right to rife. Not just this. It also declared on May 14, 1954 all Indians other than residents of J&K as a persona non-grata in J&K. The fact of the matter is that it empowered the state government to grant or not grant citizenship rights to a person or persons or a group of people citizenship rights.Article 35A was an unconstitutional provision as it was introduced in the state through a presidential order without taking into confidence the Parliament of invoking Article 368 of the constitution.The BJP had all through stood for the state's total integration into India and equality of status to all. Equality treatment to all and appeasement to none was its mantra. But for the shake of a few loaves and fishes of office, it betrayed the nation, the daughters of the state and hapless refugees. It adopted a dual approach in the Supreme Court. The PDP-BJP coalition government opposed all the PILs against 35A and filed a number of affidavits demanding dismissal of PILs. On the other hand, the BJP-led Union Government didn't file any affidavit against the Article. In fact, it told the Supreme Court again and again that it will not file any counter affidavit and it was for the apex court to take a call on it.The BJP-led NDA government shocked the nation when it told the apex court that it had appointed an interlocutor for the state - Dineshwar Sharma - to resolve the issues facing the people of the state and any decision on Article 35A would hamper his work.What had Interlocutor to do with Article 35A? The truth is that the BJP used the interlocutor to scuttle the PILs to please Mehbooba Mufti, radical forces in the valley and separatists of all varieties. By invoking interlocutor to hit the daughters of the state, refugees and the Indian nationals, the BJP simply murdered Syama Prasad Mookerjee and destroyed his legacy.

Support to demographic changes in Jammu

The BJP crossed all the lines on February 14, 2018, when its Minister Ajay Nanda didn't oppose the then Chief Minister's dangerous directions to the Deputy Commissioners of Kathua, Samba, Jammu and Udhampur and Inspector General of Police to not "disturb or dislocate" member or members of the tribal community - Gujjar and Bakerwals - from the state, forest or any other land they had occupied illegally without the consent of the Tribal Affairs Ministry. It was a direct support to those who had been changing Jammu's demographic profile for quite sometime now. Not just this, the CM's directions also promoted bovine smuggling. In other words, the CM directed the Police not to invoke Section 188 and Cruelty to Animals Act. This direction again helped tribal community.When the people of Jammu protested, Ajay Nanda said: "He was not a party to the decisions and the party in a press conference said that it had asked the CM to withdraw these directions. Till date, these directions have been not withdrawn. This, despite the fact that the state has been under the Governor's Rule since June 19.

NO to CBI probe into Rassana case

The BJP committed an unpardonable sin when its senior most minister in the Mufti government rejected the demand in Hiranagar for a CBI probe into the alleged rape and murder case, saying the Crime Branch had done a good job. Many others in the party also took the same stand. The BJP even sacked two ministers, Lal Singh and CP Ganga, on the ground that they shared dais with the Hindu Ekta Manch leaders at Kootah and demanded CBI probe. Their removal shocked the people of Jammu, notwithstanding the fact that they had no lost love lost with the BJP. They were shocked because these two ministers had gone to Kootah on the directions of the state BJP president Sat Sharma.One can catalogue any number of sins committed by the BJP in its desperate bid to retain control over power which it got by an accident of history. The people of Jammu and Ladakh will never forgive the BJP. What BJP national president Amit Shah on June 23 at the Jammu's Parade Rally said was an admission that his party and the BJP ministers failed Jammu and Ladakh. If the BJP really wishes to win over the estranged Jammu and Ladakh, it had to do what it didn't do after March 1, 2015. Governor rule is an opportunity for the BJP to redress the grievances of Jammu and Ladakh. The people of Jammu an Ladakh will fail the BJP if the BJP fails them.